Joe Harley

Hi gang, You know I've been so busy with this project (and my "day gig" as VP of AudioQuest) that I had forgotten to check back in until tonight. You can't imagine how nice it is to read your reactions! I know how excited Ron and I get when we compare our original BNs with a new test pressing we've just done, but it is so rewarding to read that you feel the same way. The history of vinyl (and digital for that matter) Blue Note reissues has been checkered to say the least. As soon as we put up those first master tapes we knew that so far, no one had really heard what Rudy captured on tape. The tapes were so DYNAMIC! Rudy had to do what he had to do back in the day to get these records to play without "skipping". Now, finally...and with the substantial advantage of running at 45RPM, we can do these transfers wide open, with no compression whatsoever. You get to hear what is actually ON the masters. Ron and I would like to thank everyone at the Klipsch site for their support and kind words. Someone here made the offer to us to hear a fine Klipsch set up in Long Beach. I'd like to take you up on that offer. Please get in touch. There's a very nice new article about the series that just appeared on the Playback Magazine on line site. You can access it at: http://magazine.playbackmag.net/playback/200801partners/?folio=1 Go to the table of contents and then click on "Liner Notes" on page 104. The next two titles (Kenny Drew's great Undercurrent w/Hank Mobley and Lou Donaldson's classic "LD + 3" with the Three Sounds) will be shipping in about two weeks. We greatly appreciate your comments Klipsch people! With the music in mind.... Joe and Ron

Hi Travis, Oh man, now I have to cross the line over to commerce. OK, Music Matters is doing this (issuing serial numbers) as we speak. Just write to info@musicmattersjazz.com and Ron will take care of you. Joe

Hi Allan, I know what you mean about all of the reissued Blue Note on LP never beating an original. Ron and I felt EXACTLY the same way....until now. On the other hand I really have never felt that those Prestige 45 RPMs were too bright. Actually this brings up an interesting point. I do feel, after having heard the original master tapes, that Rudy's original BN and Prestige LPs were cut a little on the hot side. And very cleverly so. When you consider that the typical home gear of the 50's and early 60's tended to lose high frequency information, Rudy was simply compensating for the enviroment of the time. Very clever! However, when you listen to originals now, using modern gear, the originals while exciting, are a bit over the top at the upper end IMO. But its a sound, as you say, that we've all grown to know and love after all these years. It's "how Blue Notes sound." The BN 45s sound just more like the band is there.....or that you are there with them. They aren't bright, they aren't dull. But there's just more "there" there if you know what I mean. And gobs of tonal color, something that usually gets washed out on various reissues. cheers, Joe

Hi Allan, I normally don't spend time (or have the time) to puruse the audio chat rooms and forums. But this came up when I googled our company. Ron Rambach, owner of Music Matters and my partner in this series, has the largest collection of mint first pressing Blue Notes I've ever seen. He has multiple mint copies of nearly every Blue Note released during the 50s and 60s. You better beleive that the first thing we did when we received our first test pressings was to compare them with his pristine mono deep droove priginals of the same title. After the first few minutes of the first comparison, we looked at each other and just started laughing. The mono originals sounded like a wonderful rememberance of a fabulous recording. The 45RPM test pressings in stereo sounded much more like the cats were there on the other side of the room. There was a "liveness" to the presentation that was very addictive. Those who prefer mono can always hit the mono button or use a Y-connector. But if we ONLY offer mono we are taking that option away from those who prefer stereo. I know it will be percieved as self serving to say, but as purely a music fan I'm incredibly stoked by what I'm hearing so far. cheers, Joe Harley